Remember last Monday when Aaron Hill hit for the fifth cycle in the Arizona Diamondbacks short 14-year history? Well, in their 9-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night at Miller Park, Hill went ahead and hit for the sixth cycle in franchise history, and joined some pretty elite company in the process.
By repeating his incredible achievement, Hill becomes the fourth player in MLB history to hit for two cycles in the same season.
John Reilly was the first all the way back in 1883, and is the only other player to hit two cycles within one calendar month (Sept. 12 and 19). Tip O'Neill then did it in 1887, with his cycles also coming just one week apart (April 30 and May 7). The most recent was Babe Herman in 1931 — or one Haley's Comet visit plus six years ago.
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So yes, we're talking about a truly rare accomplishment here for Aaron Hill. And when you consider the rarity of the cycle (Hill's latest is the 294th) compared to the rarity of the no-hitter (272), and the short period time between the cycles, it could be considered the individual batting equivalent of Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters back in 1938.
I said could be. That would certainly make for a fun debate.
As for Hill's path to history this time around. It began in the first inning with a double off Randy Wolf — ironically the 1,000th hit of Hill's career. He followed with a double in the third and a two-run homer in the fourth, also against Wolf.
That set the stage for his at-bat against Livan Hernandez in the sixth, which resulted in a flyball that touched down between Nyjer Morgan and Norichika Aoki in right center field and rolled to the wall. Never breaking stride, Hill raced around second and beat Rickie Weeks' relay throw with a head-first slide to once again etch his name in the history books.
Now the question is: Does Aaron Hill have it in him to become the first player to hit for three cycles in a season?
The odds overwhelmingly say no, but with 86 games left to go, I bet we'll have a night or two where we're on the edge of our seats waiting to see if he can beat those odds.
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